Contributor profile

Madolyn Smith

Biography

Madolyn Smith is an Editor for the European Journalism Centre's Data team, where she runs the Long Reads section on DataJournalism.com and the Conversations with Data newsletter.

In addition to data journalism, she's got a keen interest in data protection and privacy, with 2 years of experience advising government and industry on privacy compliance. Prior to this, she's worked as a Senior Content Manager for the United Nations in Bangkok, and developed policy on emerging technologies, media regulation, and algorithmic accountability for the Australian Government.

Coding has become an essential skill for newsroom journalists. Yet, despite the demand for these skills, many of us are still hesitant to get started. This edition will help you to take your first steps with code.

In this edition, we head down to Southeast Asia with Kuek Ser Kuang Keng, founder of DataN and co-organiser of Hacks/Hackers Kuala Lumpur, to find out more about the region's booming data journalism communities.

The Economist's appetite for data journalism has been going strong since 1843. In 2015, they brought in a specialised data team and, this year, they launched a dedicated data section in print. Hear more from the team themselves.

Data visualisation can be dangerous -- people inherently trust a map or chart. While that doesn’t mean that the truthful journalist should avoid visual storytelling, there are some common mistakes to watch out for.

Come election day, voters are all asked one crucial question: Who are you going to vote for? But behind every vote, there’s plenty more. We took a look at 5 ways that data journalists parsed the 2019 European Parliament election.

When we think of data journalism, we usually don't think of radio. Yet, data can power all forms of reporting, even those that aren’t visual. We spoke to six data experts to uncover best practices for representing data through sound.

While shocking crimes may carry headlines, the crime beat encompasses so much than murder mysteries and whodunnit stories. This edition explores four other angles, along with tips for using crime data throughout the entire reporting cycle.

To publish or not to publish? It’s a question every data journalist will undoubtedly face at some point in their career. In this edition, we’ve collated your anecdotes and advice into seven tips to help you work through your next ethical dilemma.

Databases can be so much more than just a place to find stories. Why not make a database the story? To showcase their storytelling power, we looked at 7 of the community's favourite examples of journalistic databases.

If a picture speaks a thousand words, then it can also speak a thousand lies. For this edition of Conversations with Data, we spoke to someone who knows all too well about the visual trumpery of charts: Alberto Cairo.

Over several months, an investigation team poured over 27.5 million documents to reveal how Africa's elites hide billions offshore. Did these documents ever mislead them? How did they verify? Will Fitzgibbon and Daniela Lepiz answer your questions.

Companies in West Africa make billions every year, yet most of the region’s citizens live on less than $2 a day. Why? Well, as West Africa Leaks revealed, the answer often lies in two words: tax evasion.

The 2018 World Cup might be over, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the data journalism that it inspired. We collated a full roundup of data journalism that dissected, predicted, and queried the World Cup.

Journalistic uses of augmented reality, virtual reality, 360 video, and other techniques, have gained momentum over the past few years, so we got the Journalism 360 ambassadors onboard to answer your questions about immersive storytelling.